Americans United - Tim LaHayehttps://www.au.org/tags/tim-lahaye
enVoucher Vanguard: Indiana’s Daniels Is Just The Tip Of An Ominous Iceberghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-vanguard-indiana%E2%80%99s-daniels-is-just-the-tip-of-an-ominous-iceberg
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">LaHaye’s take on public schools is, of course, a pack of lies. Our school system is not secularist or anti-Christian or anti-American.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>America’s public school system and the constitutional separation of church and state are under relentless assault.</p>
<p>Yesterday the Indiana House voted 55-43 in favor of House Bill 1003, a <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iaVDFIdTmcv08OHlCzCmTQa2Fqmw?docId=de6a9259d7bf43e6a43d3147cbad2750">measure that</a> broadly funds religious and other private schools. The multi-million-dollar <a href="http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110428/LOCAL04/304289982">program sets up </a>a new school voucher scheme, expands a tax credit program and offers tax deductions for the costs of private education and homeschooling.</p>
<p>The bill now goes to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ desk, and he is certain to sign it. Daniels was a chief promoter of the package, and he clearly wants to force taxpayers to fund religious education. He is the founder and <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15731">driving force behind</a> The Oaks Academy, a “Christ-centered” private school in Indianapolis. Daniels sometimes poses as a moderate, but his education plan is anything but.</p>
<p>Make no mistake. This is not about “education reform.” This is part of national drive to radically privatize education. Indiana is just one of many states where mega-bucks foundations and sectarian interest groups are demanding taxpayer dollars for parochial and other private schools. Their long-term goal to shut down the public school system or leave it so damaged that its role in American life is minimal.</p>
<p>In October 2010, Religious Right godfather Tim LaHaye addressed the Council for National Policy about his <a href="http://www.cfnp.org/Page.aspx?pid=405">goals for education</a>. (The secretive CNP, as you probably know, is the premier meeting place for Religious Right zealots, TV preachers, right-wing fat cats and others who want to take America back to the Dark Ages.) He viciously mischaracterized the public schools and issued a call to arms for the CNP and its allies to remake them.</p>
<p>“I have a pet concern,” said LaHaye, the fundamentalist preacher and <a href="http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/26/122744/780">“Left Behind” author</a> who founded the CNP. “And I think it is the concern of everyone in this room; and that is we are being destroyed in America by the public school systems of our country. And it was Abraham Lincoln who said, essentially, let me educate the children of this generation and they will be the political leaders of the next generation.</p>
<p>“And, folks, we have let the enemy come in and take over the greatest school system in the history of the world. At one time, Noah Webster was the school master of America, a dedicated Christian who founded people on the Word of God and principles of God. And I’d like to see you join me in prayer that God would let us wrestle control of the American school system from the secularists, the anti-Christians and anti-Americans that want to bend the minds of our children.</p>
<p>“At our expense, they want to take the most priceless thing we have – the brains of our children – and let them educate them. They educate the teachers, they provide the textbooks, and we give them the most precious things we have. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m hoping that this conservative movement will be long enough to get a majority who can vote what I consider a new bill of rights – a bill of parental rights where parents can decide where to send their children to school.”</p>
<p>Touting “biblically based education,” LaHaye concluded that ideology is the answer to education reform, not additional funding.</p>
<p>“May I suggest,” he said, that “more money is not what they need, it is a better ideology, and we have already got it.”</p>
<p>LaHaye’s take on public schools is, of course, a pack of lies. Our school system is not secularist or anti-Christian or anti-American. It welcomes children of all faiths (and none). Nobody is turned away from the door, regardless of religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, family background, disability or economic situation. And those schools are generally governed by elected school boards, whose members represent their diverse communities.</p>
<p>But LaHaye’s screed serves an important purpose. It gives us the master plan that he and other right-wing ideologues are pursuing. That’s why we have raging battles over vouchers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and a host of other states. (And it’s why House Speaker John Boehner <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/politics/15voucher.html">strong-armed through Congress</a> a federal taxpayer-funded voucher scheme in the District of Columbia.)</p>
<p>LaHaye and his cronies hate America’s vitally important public school system. He wants to shut it down and move to a “choice” system where taxpayers subsidize private schools that are accountable only to the sponsoring clergy and are free to indoctrinate children in their “biblically based” ideology. They don’t want to improve public education, as they sometimes claim; they want to destroy it.</p>
<p>LaHaye is not alone in this battle. Betsy DeVos, the infamous Koch brothers and other wealthy members and supporters of the CNP <a href="http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/20/232844/831">are funding</a> the nationwide attack on public schools and church-state separation today. Don’t be fooled. They often put forward <a href="http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2010/09/sneak-attack.html">bogus “parents groups,”</a> to serve as front operations, but it’s they who are calling the shots.</p>
<p>Wake up, America. This radical movement is on the verge of triumph. Let your legislators and members of Congress know how you feel before it’s too late.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/betsy-devos">Betsy DeVos</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/council-national-policy">Council For National Policy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/koch-brothers">Koch brothers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mitch-daniels">Mitch Daniels</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-vouchers">school vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/oaks-academy">The Oaks Academy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-lahaye">Tim LaHaye</a></span></div></div>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:16:04 +0000Joseph L. Conn1639 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-vanguard-indiana%E2%80%99s-daniels-is-just-the-tip-of-an-ominous-iceberg#commentsElena And The End-Times: Will Kagan Usher In The Apocalypse? (The Religious Right Thinks So)https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/elena-and-the-end-times-will-kagan-usher-in-the-apocalypse-the-religious
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Religious Right’s salvos against Elena Kagan aren’t getting any traction – and they just keep getting more and more pathetic.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan are in full swing, and as Americans United had hoped, we’re getting some questions about separation of church and state.</p>
<p>Yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Kagan about the relationship between the First Amendment’s “Establishment Clause,” which bars laws “respecting an establishment of religion” and the Free Exercise Clause,” which curbs laws “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. Together they provide for religious liberty and the separation of church and state.</p>
<p>“What will be your approach to interpreting the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, and how do you believe it works with the Free Exercise clause?” Feinstein asked.</p>
<p>Kagan’s answer was long and legalistic. (You can read our blogger buddy Don Byrd’s account of the whole thing <a href="http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=3660&amp;Itemid=134">here</a>.)</p>
<p>The crux of her answer was this: “In general, I think, what both First Amendment clauses are designed to do – and this is the way in which they work hand in hand with each other – what they’re both designed to do is to ensure that you have full rights as an American citizen. You are a part of this country, no matter what your religion is, and to ensure that religion just never functions as a way to put people because of their religious belief or because of their religious practice at some disadvantage with respect to any of the rights of American citizenship. So, I think that that's the sort of overall purpose of both parts of the amendment.”</p>
<p>Not a bad answer. I’d still like to hear Kagan questioned about the church-state views of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and how her thoughts stack up with those founders. And I’d like to know more about her views on the intersection of religious liberty and civil rights law. Maybe later.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Religious Right has found itself in a real bind. The conventional wisdom is that, barring some sort of dramatic, last-minute revelation, Kagan will be confirmed. But Kagan was nominated by President Barack Obama, whom the Religious Right despises, so groups in that movement feel compelled to attack her. (Plus, it’s good for fund-raising.)</p>
<p>The problem is, the Religious Right’s salvos aren’t getting any traction – and they just keep getting more and more pathetic.</p>
<p>Consider Religious Right stalwart, conspiracy theorist and hack novelist Tim LaHaye. LaHaye, a godfather of the Religious Right, is charging that Kagan is a “globalist” who secretly yearns to usher in one-world government. (You know, like they have on “Star Trek.”)</p>
<p>One-world government is a long-running obsession of LaHaye, a founder of the secretive Council for National Policy. The fact that there isn’t any serious effort under way to create such global rule doesn’t stop him. In fact, it just makes him more suspicious – it’s obviously a cover-up!</p>
<p>LaHaye, who made millions peddling his “Left Behind” series of apocalyptic potboilers, is back with a new work of fundamentalist science fiction called <em>Edge of Apocalypse</em>. Written with Religious Right attorney Craig Parshall, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Apocalypse-End-Tim-LaHaye/dp/0310326281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1277924134&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Edge of Apocalypse</em></a> tells the story of Joshua Jordan, a former spy-plane pilot whose efforts to create a missile-defense shield rile up globalist forces and inadvertently spark Armageddon. (“Honey, I blew up the world! Oops!”)</p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p>What does any of this have to do with Kagan?</p>
<p>You got me, but for some reason, LaHaye decided to light into her on a blog promoting his new book. In a desperate attempt to link his goofy tome to current events,<a href="http://edgeofapocalypsetoday.com/"> he warns darkly</a> that Kagan and other “globalists” on the high court “could begin radically steering us away from view of the Constitution that honors our Judeo-Christian heritage and founding.”</p>
<p>Fulminates LaHaye, “With Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, international legal standards could well be imposed on American citizens by the High Court’s legal globalists even without the need for Senate approval of specific international treaties. In our new novel, <em>Edge of Apocalypse</em>, we show how this trend could create a legal nightmare for conscientious Christians.”</p>
<p>What does Kagan really believe about international law?</p>
<p>Prodded by Republican senators about the issue on Tuesday, Kagan <a href="//hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_KAGAN_INTERNATIONAL_LAW?SITE=AP&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&amp;CTIME=2010-06-29-15-21-38">patiently explained</a> that while it can provide ideas for U.S. courts, it’s clearly not binding.</p>
<p>As I’ve said in a <a href="http://blog.au.org/2010/06/25/borking-kagan-failed-high-court-candidate-lashes-out-at-latest-nominee/">previous post</a>, I don’t know what kind of justice Kagan will turn out to be. I’m hopeful she’ll be in the mold of John Paul Stevens, the jurist she aims to replace. But we don’t know that because her record is scanty. That’s why AU asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to do its job by questioning Kagan thoroughly on church-state issues.</p>
<p>The Religious Right has decided on another course: screaming that Kagan is a judicial activist, a far-left maniac, an unqualified empty pantsuit and now a dupe for the great globalist one-world government conspiracy.</p>
<p>At this point, they’re just throwing anything out there and praying it sticks. It isn’t.</p>
<p>Really, if this is the best these groups can do, I’d suggest they bow to the inevitable and go home.</p>
<p>Edge of Apocalypse? Edge of insanity is more like it.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/judicial-nominations">Judicial Nominations</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/council-national-policy">Council For National Policy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/craig-parshall">Craig Parshall</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/dianne-feinstein">Dianne Feinstein</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/elena-kagan">Elena Kagan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-lahaye">Tim LaHaye</a></span></div></div>Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:24:04 +0000Rob Boston2097 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/elena-and-the-end-times-will-kagan-usher-in-the-apocalypse-the-religious#comments